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Updated January 25th, 2022 at 22:58 IST

Former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refuses Padma Bhushan honour

Former West Bengal Chief Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday refused to accept the Padma Bhushan award.

Reported by: Swagata Banerjee
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
Image: ANI | Image:self
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Soon after the Government of India on Tuesday announced the recipients of the prestigious Padma Awards, former West Bengal Chief Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, whose name is on the list of Padma Bhushan Awardees - has refused to accept the honour. Bhattacharjee was the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011, very much a political stalwart.

The ex-WB CM, who is currently unwell and bedridden, said in a statement,  "I know nothing about this award. No one has told me anything about it. If they have decided to offer Padma Bhushan to me, I refuse to accept it." This statement has been confirmed by senior CPI-M leader & Comrade Sitaram Yechury. 

'Possibly a political afterthought': Government sources

However, reacting to former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refusing the Padma Bhushan award, Government sources have said, "The family was informed in the morning by a very senior Central official of Govt's decision to bestow him with the honour. His wife spoke to the official."

The Government sources also spoke to news agency ANI, and said, "No information was given to the Central government about the decision of the family to refuse the award. The announcement of the awards only happened later in the evening. This was possibly a political afterthought."

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's Political Career

Bhattacharjee was the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011. He has been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other old age-related ailments for quite some time, which have kept him away from public life for the past few years. He was the MLA of Jadavpur constituency for twenty-four years until 13 May 2011. He is known for taking the biggest risk of his political career by embarking upon the industrialization drive in the state of West Bengal, which earlier had agriculture as primary source of income, even though it deviated from the standard Marxist doctrine. However, the state was thwarted by Tata Motors leaving Bengal due to massive protests by Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee who finally unseated the Communist government in one of the great political feats worldwide. 

After the Tata incident, in the 2011 state assembly election, Bhattacharjee was defeated by the then TMC candidate Manish Gupta by 16,684 votes in his own constituency, and the CPI(M) was ejected from power in the state and has failed to regain its past glory in the subsequent decade. 

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Published January 25th, 2022 at 22:58 IST

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